The present invention relates to a safety system for an engine against overturning and for stopping the engine as well as a fuel pump when the engine is inclined at a greater angle than an allowable angle.
Construction equipment or machine such as small sized roller or a small sized snowplow equipped with an industrial utility engine are generally provided with an inclination sensor for detecting an inclination of the engine greater than a predetermined angle and for causing an alarm or for temporarily stopping the operation of the engine.
Such an alarm or temporarily stopping the engine preliminarily indicates that the engine may be overturned. However, since the weight balance of the construction equipment is usually instable, the equipment or machine may be likely to be overturned on inclined ground. There will be insufficient time between the alarm and the actual overturning and, hence, it may be difficult for workers to take necessary procedure to prevent the machine from overturning before it is overturned.
Japanese Utility Model Laid-open Publication No. 59-40573 discloses a safety control device wherein the operation of a fuel pump is stopped at a time when a certain abnormal impact applied to a vehicle or a machine body is detected to cut off the fuel supply to the engine thereby preventing a secondary disaster such as a fire caused by the overturning of the engine. However, the safety control device describe above does not operate to cut off the fuel supply until an abnormal impact is detected, so that it may be difficult to quickly respond to the overturning and to effectively avoid the overflow of the fuel in the course of overturning.